The Dress Didn't Sexualize a 23-Year-Old. Your Brain Did.

Olivia Rodrigo wore a babydoll dress on stage. The internet lost its mind. "We have to talk about the weird trend of heavily sexualized pop stars dressing themselves as little girls," one user wrote on X. She's 23 years old. She was wearing a dress. A dress that, by the way, was inspired by Kathleen Hanna and Courtney Love — women who wore the same silhouette in the 1990s as a middle finger to every man who told girls what they could and couldn't wear. But sure. Let's talk about the "trend." Let's talk about how Rodrigo has worn sparkly bras and tiny shorts on stage. Nobody blinked. She wore those "revealing" outfits and the world said "yass queen." But when she covered up — when she put on a dress that covers a woman's body instead of exposing it — that's when people got uncomfortable? You see what happened there? You see the logic trap? If you show skin, you're asking for it. If you cover up, you're "dressing as a little girl." Either way, the problem is apparently her . Her body. Her choice of clothing. Her existence as a woman who should be gazed upon. Here's what Rodrigo said on the New York Times Popcast, and I want you to read it slowly: "I just think it shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture. Also, it just is this rhetoric that we're fed as girls since we're so little, which is like, 'Don't wear that, because then a man is going to sexualize your body and it's your fault.' It's so weird."